A little more than a year ago, this writer interviewed a then-player for the Kansas City Chiefs about his hopes for the upcoming 2012-13 season, in which the Chiefs were expected to be competitive. The player was convincing bullish, and this writer came away impressed by his confidence. Imagine the bemused disappointment, then, when the Chiefs went 2-14, which is partially why the 2013-14 Chiefs—a much complete outfit—haven’t earned the respect you’d think their 9-0 start would bring.

Consider that the Chiefs are a severe underdog in tonight’s game against the Denver Broncos, which is surprising considering their elite pass defense—2nd in defensive efficiency this season—and the high ankle sprain that’s been bothering Peyton Manning for the last few weeks. A limping Peyton Manning is still Peyton Manning, especially when he’s a Peyton Manning playing a night game at home, but the Chiefs haven’t lost a game (which is obviously impressive even taking their favorable schedule into account). If they can pull off the upset, they’ll be in pole position for the AFC’s top seed and more importantly, will have the respect of whoever sets the betting lines. Unless Manning exposes them, high ankle sprain or not, in which case we’ll remember the Chiefs are exactly who we thought they were.

As AFC rivals, Chiefs/Broncos has never equaled the nastiness of the old Chiefs/Raiders rivalry, back in the 60’s and early 70’s when KC and Oakland fought for post-season rights and both made Super Bowl appearances. By the time John Elway came along, the Chiefs weren’t too great, and even when they had good seasons they still lost to Elway’s Broncos, usually in the final seconds.

Can’t help but think the artiest type of pop for Lady Gaga to release would’ve been a theme song for Sunday Night Football, and not her actual “ARTPOP” album. What’s more out there for her brand than writing a song to get people pumped up for football?

I simply cannot overstate how important the health of Peyton Manning’s ankle will be. People often throw ankles in the same group with ribs or shoulders or other things that just minimally hurt a quarterback’s throw. An ankle, however, is a vastly underrated body part for a quarterback. He plants with his ankle, everything starts from there. If he’s truly hurt, you could see him sailing a lot of his passes.

Not much of an inspiring start for the KC offense: Charles’ loss is followed by two incompletions from Alex Smith, the last looking as feeble as anything you or I might try. Trindon Holiday takes the punt back to nearly midfield.

That’s tough: Smith zips a perfect throw downfield through two Broncos, but Donnie Avery can’t hold onto it. Kansas City has thrown big on every play of this drive—they’re at 3rd and 10, but it’s a bold plan.

I’m sure Peyton has a few regrets, but number-one must be that he can’t go back to his 22-year old body with all he knows about the game today. Nuts that he’s been this effective in Denver despite such a clear lack of arm strength.

Oh man, Montee Ball drops the handoff on 3rd and 1 and Kansas City easily recovers. Manning, of all people, has to make the tackle to stop them from breaking for the touchdown. I’m sure that made his leg feel much better.

Manning, having sensed all my pithy comments about his arm strength, airs it out to Demaryius Thomas down the sideline, who catches it in stride and takes it to the red zone for a 69-yard completion. 3-0… not about to hold.

On second and goal, Manning gets it out faster than you can say “Papa John’s” to Thomas, who falls down in the end zone for a 10-yard touchdown. Hold your jokes, but maybe it’s the offense that’ll have to play to get ahead.

Kansas City gets a first down after a holding penalty is called on Chris Harris. It’s followed by Smith finding a wide-open Chandler Williams over the middle, moving the Chiefs to midfield and basically doubling their yardage output thus far.

Thomas takes a pass for a first down and seems to get ripped down pretty hard by his man. But the penalty called is for… holding? Wake me up when there’s any kind of consistency to how hard NFL defenders are or aren’t supposed to hit.

Man, Peyton Manning is unreal. Passes got more wobble than a Diplo concert and he’s still getting the Broncos downfield after a highly lofted throw to Thomas, followed by another to Thomas down the sideline to take Denver to the 18-yard line.

Overall, the Chiefs’ discipline on defense is tremendous. They don’t seem to care about Manning’s calls at the line, which confuse most defenses, and their defensive backs aren’t overeager at the line of scrimmage, which means Manning can’t take advantage on those screens to Thomas like he does with most secondaries.

Knowshon Moreno bursts through the middle to convert on third and short, and the Broncos have first and goal inside the five. That’s immediately followed by pass interference on KC, and Denver is close enough to walk it in should they get the chance.

A lot has been made this week of the Chiefs easy schedule, and easy it has been. Even so, they’ve fallen behind in several games, and have shown comeback ability. They’ve been especially tough in the fourth quarter, if they can hang around that long.

All sorts of holes popping up in this Denver defense, as Smith finds Knile Davis on a screen to get to first and goal at what looks like the 3-yard line. Danny Trevathan is slow to get up, and ends up walking off-field.

Three straight run attempts forces fourth down—though not without some confusion on whether Kansas City might’ve fumbled on the last of them—and the Chiefs kick a field goal to get within a touchdown. Somewhat of a disappointing outcome after how quickly they got downfield.

On big game nights like tonight, I cannot help but miss the Barrel Man. For almost thirty years, he attended every home game wearing ONLY an orange barrel, Broncos hat and cowboy boots. He embodied the wild spirit of the franchise — beloved by generations of fans like myself.

Brandon Flowers plants Wes Welker after a quick screen and immediately lets loose with some kind of warlord stomp. How long before the NFL calls “taunting” on after-the-hit celebrations? Seems like it would be a quick way to remind everyone that violence apparently has no place in football.

The announcers are going to need a different way to say Montee Ball got tackled other than “Ball on the ground”—that makes me, and I’m sure plenty of others, look for a fumble. Denver can’t get any further than deep field-goal territory, and Prater goes wide left on a 52-yarder after having nailed a 54-yarder earlier in the game. You kick some, you miss some.

A worse second-half ending than a missed field goal looms in sight as the Chiefs immediately get past midfield, hoping to set up a field goal. But Alex Smith gets sacked, which makes things a little trickier.

Manning suddenly looking like a toddler picking up Madden for the first time, and the Broncos are pushed to fourth down. Now it’s Demaryius Thomas who’s down after a hyperextended knee which makes me do a sharp intake after the replay. He walks off under his own strength, but the night hasn’t been kind for Denver health.

Continuing a game-long trend, Smith airs it out early on a play-action, this time waaaaaaay downfield. He’s almost picked off, which maybe means an end to that. (Indeed, the next play is a run for three yards.)

You get the feeling that the lack of long passes by the Chiefs isn’t just that Smith doesn’t throw many or that when he does the receivers drop them. The receivers don’t appear to be fast enough to get behind coverage.

Once again, Smith is very nearly sacked after he drops back a billion yards and appears to successfully scramble for a first down… but a holding call reverses it, taking us back to 2nd and 17. Momentum? In this game? Never!

The season’s most anticipated game has been perhaps the biggest dud of the season. I’m in agreement with the Chiefs coaching staff who look like they about to fall asleep–this is not a game where I want a rematch.

The decision to punt there is a white flag. Andy Reid wasn’t interested in this one all that much. He was accused in Philadelphia of not being a big-game coach–I wasn’t one of those critics, but he wasn’t all there tonight.

The Chiefs have whiffed or slipped a few times on this possession, allowing Denver to get the extra yard they needed for a first down. The Broncos are playing conservatively to wind down the clock, but they’re already in field-goal territory.

Kansas City making a real push? If not for all the penalty flags stopping the momentum, they’d be rolling downfield before the Broncos had a chance to catch their breath. Of course, most of the penalties are in their favor.

Granted I am not a football coach, nor will I ever know enough about football to do more than step onto a practice field for five minutes before someone tells me to get out of the way. But it’s awful bold of Reid to trust his defense to make a stop when they’ve given up 27 points and plenty of yardage all gain.

What a lucky break for Kansas City, if the call on the field stands: They stop Denver on third down AND stop the clock, as Decker dives out of bounds in a seemingly failed attempt to get the first down.

As it turns out, the Chiefs are who we thought they were: a solid team with a real defense and inconsistent but not totally worthless offense, which means they can definitely make the playoffs and maybe even win a game. But they never found their momentum against Denver, and certainly couldn’t play from behind for more than a part of the first half: They were wholly unwatchable after the break, and seem to have a few questions regarding Andy Reid’s playcalling and time management. (As a bunch of Philadelphia fans nod their head.) Those in Denver will feel more confident that their team is the best in the AFC, those in Kansas CIty will complain bitterly into their beers, and those impartial observers at home will remember a brutally drawn out affair that featured two challenges in the final five minutes of game time. Two! Time to go to sleep.

Comments (5 of 15)

I was at the game on Sunday and I will never go back to "The Drunk Tank at Mile Very High" Statium. I was supporting the Chiefs and was hoping I would treated fairly, but was not. Most of the fans were so drunk and high on pot that things were out of control . One person staggered done the stairs and 15 minutes later came back with two large beers. After pot smoke was blown on us the second time we left. On the way out one of the drunks tried to bait me into a fight. Don't ever take your family or customers to this lawless stadium

1:44 pm November 19, 2013

ANGELA wrote:

sorry, but, still proud of the Chiefs, when you look at the last few years and LAST year, not too shabby. Need more work on QB, of course, but hey, i love em!

9:22 pm November 18, 2013

steelersfan69 wrote:

Srry but going for Kansas but ever one was playing poorly but the Qb he was making the throws but the wr weren't catching

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